Rumors about job weighing on Beinfest

Rumors that Larry Beinfest may lose his job are weighing on him, the Marlins’ president of baseball operations revealed Tuesday on FM 104.3 The Ticket.

In his regular appearance on the Hochman and Zaslow Show, Beinfest said he believes he has done a good job this season setting up the team, but that it is out of his hands.

"I think the tumultuous part and unsettling part is reading about it and living it everyday. You know I'm a person just like anybody else. I have a wife and kids and all that good stuff. It can definitely grate on you," Beinfest said.

Reports have circulated for the second year in a row that Beinfest’s job was in jeopardy. It was reported last week that he confronted owner Jeffrey Loria and asked him to decide about his status one way or the other.

Beinfest said Tuesday that he wanted to keep his conversations with Loria internal because that's the professional thing to do, but naturally reading those things get to him.

“A lot of things are out there. I’m not going to respond to them,” Beinfest said. “Let’s face it, this hasn’t been pleasant, I don’t think for Jeffrey or for the organization the last couple of weeks reading all these things.

“We have an attendance-challenged building, a 100-loss team and there’s a lot of things to worry about here. I’m not sure that I’m necessarily at the top of the list.”

Beinfest confirmed that Loria is involved with baseball decisions and he knew that would be the case when he was hired for the job.

Although the Marlins were one defeat away from the franchise’s second 100-loss season with five games remaining, first-year manager Mike Redmond’s job status has not been included in the rumors circulating around the team. A year ago Ozzie Guillen was fired after one year as manager.

“I think Red’s done a good job,” Beinfest said. “Coming out of spring training we were extremely challenged. We knew that we were going to be overmatched right out of the box. But I think the guys played hard every day. I think that’s a good way to evaluate him.

“We’re the guys prepared, were they playing hard every day. I think the answer is yes. At times we just weren’t good enough. That’s not necessarily Red’s fault.”

Beinfest also addressed the uncertain future of slugging right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who made his displeasure with the trade of several key veterans to Toronto last November and has struggled through his worst season. Stanton, who missed five weeks with a hamstring injury, was batting .252 with 24 home runs while striking out 132 times in 111 games.

Beinfest said there have been discussion about offering Stanton a long-term contract in the offseason, but that nothing has been decided.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to this team,” he said. “Obviously it needs to improve offensively. I think some of the pieces we brought up can be part of that improvement, such as [Christian] Yelich, a healthy [Marcel] Ozuna. So some of that will happen naturally.

“We’re talking about it. Has anything been decided? No.”

Regarding Stanton’s discontent about the moves of last season, Beinfest said, “By and large I think he’s done a good job. I think he’s handled the situation. Obviously he opened a can of worms when he voiced his displeasure with the trade and he’s brought a lot of attention on himself. But I think he’s handled it well.

“I think if you ask him, he’s had a tough year, he’d be disappointed in the year he had. I’m sure there’s better years ahead for Giancarlo.”

As to the front office’s relationship with Stanton, Beinfest said, “Giancarlo is an interesting guy. He’s complicated in some respects and he’s very simple in other respects. He’s a really nice kid, very pleasant, very respectful, but it’s hard to get to him sometimes. But that’s just his personality. … As far as I can tell, at least I can only speak from my own interaction with him, I think our relationship with him is a good one.”